"Canada is our closest neighbor. There is a lot less trauma and stress
in transporting an animal from Canada instead of going all the way to
the Lower 48."

The [border] closure means Alaska has to import any replacement cattle
from the Lower 48. But since the most practical way to get live cattle
to Alaska is overland through Canada, the state is unable to bring them
in from either Canada or the rest of the United States.

Hamilton said Alaska's unique situation means it may be more likely to
get an exemption from the ban.

"We only import 300 to 400 animals per year. So we're thinking that with
the small number of livestock that would be transported, (and) the fact
that there really is only one major road into Alaska, that it can be
really well controlled, and we can keep track of the Canadian cows that
come in," she said.

Hamilton said Alaska producers are getting desperate.

'the dairymen are unable to get any replacement heifers, and so their
production is going down. And we haven't got any bulls in for our
cattlemen to improve their genetics."

While Alaska producers could bring in cattle by barge from the Lower 48,
it would add about $800 to the cost of each animal, she said.

Hamilton said the plan includes testing every live cow that entered the
state. Currently the state tests only suspect animals for bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, the scientific name for mad cow disease.

However, the commitment to extra testing is making it more difficult to
complete the pilot program, and Hamilton is unsure when it will be
launched, even if approved.

'to put the animal ID program into place, to find the funds to have
every animal tested -- this is why it's taking longer than we had hoped."

Full text: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/193286_madcow01.html

********

2. Japan, US to hold talks over resumption of US beef imports: report
Channel News Asia
October 1, 2004

TOKYO : Japan and the United States will hold working-level talks this
month over resuming US beef imports currently banned because of fears
over mad cow disease, a news report said on Friday.

Before the talks at the end of the month, the Japanese government will
consult a panel of experts on allowing meat from US cattle 20 months old
or younger even if they have not been tested for bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper
said.

Japanese farm ministry officials said nothing had been decided on
whether or when to hold the next round of bilateral talks.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Asia's bird flu epidemic, which experts fear could
spawn a human pandemic, has claimed its 31st victim, a nine-year-old
Thai girl who had contact with infected chickens at home.

She died on Sunday night, soon after being confirmed as having the H5N1
bird flu virus nearly a month after falling ill, Health Ministry
spokeswoman Nitaya Chanruang Mahabhol told Reuters.

'the girl was in poor condition before being sent to the hospital,"
Nitaya said on Monday of the 11th Thai to die of bird flu since the
virus swept through much of Asia early this year. It has also killed 20
Vietnamese.

The government, spurred into a frenzy of action by Thailand's first
probable human-to-human transmission of the virus last week, is
determined no one else will linger untested and untreated for so long.

Volunteers would inspect every village in the country and put anyone
showing flu-like symptoms on the government's bird flu watch list,
Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan told reporters.

So far, 85 patients in 22 of Thailand's 76 provinces are waiting for
H5N1 test results after being sent to hospital with flu-like symptoms, a
ministry statement said.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gave his government until the end of
October to eliminate the virus, promising heads would roll if the drive
failed.

Experts say that task is nearly impossible given the resilience of a
virus that has survived the slaughter of tens of millions of poultry.

What they fear most is that the H5N1 virus could infect an animal also
able to host a human flu virus -- most likely a pig -- and then mutate
and set off a pandemic among a human population with no resistance to
the mutated virus.

In 1918, just such a pandemic killed an estimated 20 million people
around the world.

No evidence has yet emerged of such a development, although experts are
now sure that the H5N1 virus can be passed from human to human if there
is prolonged and very close contact.

Dutch researchers reported last month that domestic cats can get the
avian influenza virus, which means pets are at risk of catching and
spreading the disease.

However, a report that a Thai dog had also caught it proved to be an
error probably caused by a mislabeled sample, the Health Ministry said.

Michigan deer hunters should not expect to see any last-minute
changes in this year's deer hunting regulations or quotas as a result of
findings from the DNR's audit of more than 500 domestic cervid operations.

The statewide audit, which the DNR began in June, was expected to be
completed by Oct. 1, in time to implement additional antlerless license
quotas or other measures deemed critical to protect the health of
Michigan's wild deer and elk, a move DNR Director Becky Humphries had
said would be undertaken if necessary.

But despite an approximate 33-percent noncompliance rate of state rules
regarding cervid facilities by Michigan's domestic deer and elk farmers,
no glaring red flags have been revealed by the audits, according to Doug
Reeves, the DNR's current acting Wildlife Division chief.

At least, not yet. "With approximately 30 farms left to be audited (as
of Sept. 23), we haventt found any animals with apparent signs of CWD or
anything like that," Reeves said. "We do have some concerns, but, so
far, nothing of an alarming nature that could be considered a huge
threat to the health of our wild deer and elk."

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/5ky3v

********

5. 'Mystery island' is no threat to us [edited]
By Dan Bradway - Opinion
Newsday
October 3, 2004

Dan Bradway is an associate in molecular diagnostics at Washington State
University, where he manages a laboratory section of the Washington
Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.

'This history of secrecy has led to all kinds of wild conspiracy and
accident theories.'Nelson DeMille wrote a swashbuckling detective novel
called "Plum Island" in 1998. The novel paints a pretty accurate picture
of the local history and the physical facilities of the Plum Island
Animal Disease Research Center. However, I had to laugh when the
fearless macho detective (who's not afraid of bullets) nearly dies of
fright at the mere thought of all those "deadly bugs" in the lab that
might kill us all.

As a visiting scientist, I worked with those bugs inside the biosafety
level 3 lab, wearing a thin cotton scrub suit, but protected by a lab
coat, gloves and a laminar flow hood, which keeps infectious agents
contained by a column of air and a high efficiency particulate air
filter. I am definitely more afraid of guns.

Since its creation in 1951, the Plum Island Animal Disease Research
Center hasn't always done the best job in communicating with the public,
and the lab has had its problems. Private contract workers who
maintained the facility were involved in a contentious strike in 2002,
and some minor sabotage occurred. The lab has had brief power failures.
A security audit by the General Accounting Office found problems with
controlled access to pathogens and deficiencies in background checks of
scientists.

The Department of Homeland Security took over the island in June 2003.
Even with this new administration, two incidents were reported earlier
this year when foot-and-mouth virus infected some animals accidentally.
The virus never left the containment area, but Plum Island officials
didn't immediately notify outside agencies about the problem, either.

The world has also changed dramatically since 9/11. The Department of
Homeland Security not only administers Plum Island, but also controls
select agent usage in all labs around the country. This is a significant
upgrade from the past, when some labs kept dangerous agents in unlocked
freezers without controlled access.

6. Shipment of U.S. cattle to Cuba
By Michael Braga
The Herald Tribune
October 2, 2004

PORT MANATEE -- The on-again, off-again shipment of Florida beef cattle
to Cuba is on again.

The Cuban government originally agreed to purchase 250 head of cattle in
November and increased that total to 300 head four months later.

The shipment, set to leave from Port Manatee in April, was indefinitely
postponed after a single case of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform
encephalopathy) was discovered in Washington.

Cuba, like other countries, was concerned that U.S. cattle infected with
the brain-wasting disease could infect their herds.

After recently meeting with officials at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Cuban authorities are now convinced that American ranchers
have curtailed the problem enough to again schedule the shipment.

"The Cubans have certified that America is BSE free," said John Parke
Wright IV, the Naples businessman who negotiated the cattle sale.
"That's something that the Japanese, Chinese and Mexicans have not done
yet."

Researchers are making headway developing West Nile virus treatments and
vaccines, but questions remain as to whether these remedies to the
emerging and somewhat capricious malady will be effective enough to make
it to market while demand exists.

At least one vaccine and two treatments are undergoing human clinical
trials, but none will be available until 2007 at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the seasonal epidemics are costing the United States at least
$140 million annually, according to a recent CDC study that tracked
medical costs, productivity losses and government agency expenses due to
the mosquito-borne virus. In September, a 50-year-old San Jose man
became the first Bay Area resident reported sick with the virus.

Infected individuals are thought to be immune for life, according to
Carol Glaser, a viral disease expert with the state's Department of
Health Services. ``That's why a vaccine would probably work well.''

A horse vaccine for West Nile virus has been available for several
years, but developers of a human version face a litany of additional
requirements to earn approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

To date, the only vaccine candidate in human trials is produced by
Acambis, a British company with U.S. headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. A
single shot of this vaccine -- created by swapping parts of the closely
related yellow fever vaccine with proteins from the West Nile virus --
seems to offer long-term protection in monkeys, mice and hamsters.

Full text:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/9807833.htm

WASHINGTON - Food companies fighting Congress' directive to start
telling consumers whether the fish they buy was farm-raised or caught
won a six-month reprieve Thursday from the Agriculture Department.

New regulations to implement a provision in the 2002 farm bill requiring
fresh and frozen fish to carry labels specifying their origin were
issued Thursday, but the government said grocery stores won't have to
comply until April. The labels also will have to specify what country
the seafood came from.

Food companies and trade groups had complained processors would have to
throw out stocks of fish if they could not sell them before the labeling
requirement took effect.

The wait will let the industry sell off its existing product, the
Agriculture Department said. Officials said they also plan to delay for
a year strict enforcement of the new requirements while commercial
fishermen, fish farmers, importers, distributors and retailers are
trained on how to comply.